The idea here is to vote for the bassist or bassists you feel to be the most influential as far as how the instrument is played and how players have developed in their evolution. This would not necessarily be your favorite, but one (or more) who may have influenced your favorite. I'll try to look at the results, including write ins, and tabulate the top 5 and then have a run-off vote in a later thread.
Thanks for your participation. You can vote for as many as you wish.
In order to narrow this down to the top 5 this poll will only be active for 30 days.

If you don't see your bassist in the list, click write in and list them in your post. Remember, the bassist should be influential, not necessarily just your favorite or from your favorite band. By influential I mean they should have significantly contributed to bass guitar's evolution.

I voted -- it was actually more difficult than I expected, because it forced me think about what it means to be influential. Cool exercise.

E.g., I don't deny that Paul McCartney was incredibly influential...and influential to bassists. But I question whether the type of influence he had is/was as overt as the type of influence someone like, say, Larry Graham or James Jamerson or Jaco Pastorius had.

Paul's influence strikes me as more abstract: He influenced bassists to recognize that they could play interesting lines that weren't completely background foundation/support parts (and yet that still provided the necessary foundation/support). He influenced bassists to recognize that they were valuable members of a band, both in terms of musical contribution and band image. He influenced bassists to recognize that they were worthy of the spotlight.

But you almost never hear bassists copping McCartney's lines or licks or phrasing. Unlike Larry, James, or Jaco, Paul's influence was almost extrinsic to the bass guitar. He influenced the way bassists thought about playing bass, rather than influencing the way they played bass. That's a fascinating distinction imho.

In terms of giving the bass guitar a solo voice, helping it break free from its role as simply driving the rhythm section (not that there's anything wrong with it; obviously, that's an art unto itself), and doing so in a very dramatic fashion, I'd vote for Jaco, with Stanley not far behind. Jaco simply rewrote the rules for what could be done with bass guitar, particularly as a lead instrument. Others on the list -- particularly Jamerson and John Entwistle -- also helped reinvent the bass guitar's role, but not to the extent that Jaco did.
BTW, not trying to start a big Jaco discussion here -- please go elsewhere for that. Just trying to offer a succinct explanation of why I chose Jaco. I'm a huge fan of much of the music represented by the bass players on this list. Although not sure why Gene Simmons is there -- I think KISS had a pretty large impact, but not sure that Gene's playing did.
EDIT: I wrote this before I realized we could vote for more than one -- in trying to think of those who had the most impact on how the instrument is played, and in affecting its role, I voted for Jaco, Stanley, James Jamerson and John Entwistle.

I voted McCartney, Entwhistle, Jamerson, and Geddy Lee. I see these guys as having an effect on the widest range of people. The guys like Clarke, Wooten, and Miller I see as having a very profound effect on a much smaller group of people.

I would put Geezer Butler on that list just for the sheer number of metalheads he has influenced with both his bass playing and his lyrics.

I wanted to put forth a list with a variety of Rockers as well. For some reason Gene Simmons shows up a lot so I thought why not?

Click to expand...

Probably right. KISS certainly has had a great impact, and Gene has his fans. I've heard that quite a few bass players WERE inspired to take up bass after watching him, etc. So in that sense, yes, probably substantial impact.